


A Night on the Town

by thosefarplaces



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-22 00:23:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6063748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thosefarplaces/pseuds/thosefarplaces
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fancy date night, post-apocalyptic Boston style. I wanted it to exist, so I had to write it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Night on the Town

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bitterblue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bitterblue/gifts).



It took Nora embarrasingly long to realize that Piper had never been on an official “date”.

She wasn't exactly sure what constituted a date in this new, ashen world. As far as she could tell (from the rumors Piper told her, from the good doctors' affectionate arguments in Diamond City, from Glory and Desdemona, who she had noticed exchanging very significant looks one day, and the short, gruff, endearingly embarrassed conversation she'd had with Dez afterwards – mostly a plea for her to keep her mouth shut), people just sort of...got together. Of course, even back in Nora's day that had happened – it'd been the case with her and her first girlfriend, though they might've gone out together in public if they'd thought they could get away with it. But no one here ever seemed to take their significant others out for a bona fide date.

She couldn't really blame them. If you were set up somewhere comfortable, like Diamond City or Sanctuary or, hell, even Goodneighbor (which had more...varying degrees of comfort), you didn't really want to leave, and there wasn't much to do in the way of special occasions. And if you lived somewhere more fragile, like an isolated settlement or one of the alleyways huddled in Boston's long shadows, going out was a good way to get yourself shot. Which, in spite of how many times being bandaged up by Piper had ended up with both of them naked in the nearest bed, Nora did not consider romantic.

They were in Publick Occurences, Nora and Nat each reading a comic on the couch (Nora was on issue 10 of Grognak the Barbarian, and Nat on 9, hurriedly catching up and impatient for her turn to read the latest issue they'd found), Piper upstairs at her console answering mail from readers. Nora turned the last page, where Grognak had finally vanquished the wizard, and tossed the comic onto the table for Nat as she wandered upstairs to check on her girlfriend. Behind her, Nat gave a delighted hoot. Piper was frowning thoughtfully at her computer, chin resting on one hand, the other holding a pencil that she was occasionally – unthinkingly – chewing on. The habit was endearing, but not always...sanitary. Nora's PipBoy gave a single beep when she walked up and kissed the top of Piper's hat.

“Pipes.”

“Hey, gorgeous,” Piper said, turning slightly in her chair. She looked a little tired, but her smile was genuinely delighted. Everything about Piper was always genuine. It made her a terrible liar, but it was also one of the things Nora loved about her. “Done reading?”

“Yep.”

“Who won?”

Nora tilted her head down towards Nat and raised an eyebrow at Piper.

“Right, right, sorry. No spoilers.”

“How's the mail going?” Nora asked, resting a hand on Piper's shoulder and peering at the console's screen.

“It's okay. Lot of it today, though.” Turning back to frown at the half-finished response she was typing, Piper sighed, tapped her lower lip with the pencil, and nearly bit down on it again. Nora's PipBoy beeped.

“Piper.”

“Hm?”

“I, um, don't think you want to chew on that one.” She waved her concerned PipBoy at the pencil. It beeped again.

“Oh. Shit. Thanks.” Piper frowned at the faint tooth marks on the pencil and tossed it aside, scrunching her nose in distaste. “I didn't even notice-”

“I know,” she said, laughing. “That's what makes it cute. When you're not, you know, getting radiation poisoning from the habit.”

“Answering this batch has just been...distracting. A bunch of kids writing in about their sweethearts, or the people they wish were their sweethearts – I don't want to steer them wrong, y'know?”

“I'd say you have a pretty good track record with relationships,” Nora said innocently.

Piper grinned up at her from the chair and slid her arms up around Nora's waist, pulling her in closer. “I like to think so.” She frowned a little. “Well. The present one, anyways.”

“You do like 'em a little old,” Nora said, “but to each their own.”

Piper sputtered indignantly, and then Nora was giggling, and Piper was laughing, too, and Nat called up from the living room for them to stop being so mushy while she was trying to read. That just made them laugh more. But a few minutes later, while Nora sat on the bed cleaning a gun and Piper finished typing up the latest issue of the paper, she couldn't help thinking about those letters. There was an agony aunt column in the paper her parents had used to get. Her parents were one of the less painful memories she had from...before. Spend long enough keeping too much of yourself from someone, and it's harder to feel connected to them. But her childhood had been comfortable enough, and she'd read that column every week once her mother was done with it. Advice on careers, school, dating...

And that's when she realized it.

Nora got up and started to pace. Piper was too engrossed in her writing to notice. Probably for the best if Piper was distracted for the next few days, she decided. Because a plan was slowly forming in her mind, and it was going to take a couple of favors to make it work.

 

Exactly three days later, she was waiting at the bar in the Third Rail, trying not to look as nervous as she felt. She'd always had mixed feelings about dresses, but she'd never actually worn a tux back when society had...existed, and in spite of Codsworth's best efforts, she wasn't sure they'd gotten the tie quite right. She liked the cut of the suit, though, neither too masculine nor too feminine for her taste, and she'd gotten a thumbs up from Deacon over it. She once ran into him undercover wearing a potato sack as a shirt, so she didn't know how much his fashion advice was worth, but it was...something. The bar had a light crowd that evening, all the other customers busy with their own meals or drinks – too busy to pay attention to the fidgeting woman at the bar. She checked the time on her PipBoy. 7:03. Piper was late. Nora tried not to assume the worst, but this was the apocalypse. The worst tended to happen. Maybe she should've-

That's when she heard footsteps on the stairs.

She turned around and stood, giving her tie an anxious tug to straighten it. Piper was walking down the stairs, biting her lip and scanning the room, and she was...

Beautiful.

Important correction: Piper was always beautiful. Nora knew, with the pedantic part of her mind that had been such a boon in law school, that this was objectively impossible. People were messy. People got sick, and sweaty, and sometimes bloody. They made weird faces when they were thinking. They woke up with terrible hair days. But somehow, to Nora, Piper always looked beautiful. She had a way of making Nora rethink a lot of things that she'd thought were impossible.

Tonight, though, Piper was even more than beautiful. She was radiant.

It wasn't the dress, although the dress was a stunning surprise. She'd told Piper to wear something “nice,” which had led to a lot of raised eyebrows and bafflement (“Nice? Like...something without bullet holes?” “Well...yes. But...maybe a bit nicer than that?” “Blue, for crying out loud, what does 'nice' _mean_?” “Something comfortable, but something that makes you feel...special.” More raised eyebrows and a long-suffering sigh.). She hadn't known what to expect, but the way the sleek red fabric brought out the green of Piper's eyes, and the way the line of it traced her thighs sent part of Nora's mind racing towards a lot of different possible endings for the night, all of them involving that dress on her floor. Piper looked wonderful in it, but it was the hopeful excitement in her eyes as she worried at her bottom lip, the way she gasped when she saw Nora standing by the bar, smiling helplessly, that made her glow. Piper stopped at the bottom of the stairs, looking around in pleasant bafflement, and Nora picked her way through the tables over to her.

“Hey there.”

“Hiya, dollface,” Piper said, blushing. Then she looked Nora up and down and blushed harder. “You...wow. Um. You look-”

“Nice?”

Piper snorted. Then smiled, and took one of her hands. “Yes. Nice.”

Nora brushed her cheek with her free hand, and couldn't help smiling. “You look amazing.”

“I hope so. I wasn't sure this old thing would fit me. I found it a long time ago, but I never really...could figure out what to wear it for. Seemed too nice to throw away, though.” She took a deep breath and looked around the room again. By now, a few of the other patrons were glancing over at them. They smiled, and some raised their glasses in well-meaning toasts. “Blue, what is this?”

“This,” she said, taking Piper's hand and leading her further into the bar, “is a date, Piper Wright.”

Piper stared at her.

“There were a lot of things about my...about the old world that I'm glad we lost,” she said softly. “But dating...we had some good ideas about that. And I thought it'd be a crime if I never gave you a proper one.”

“Blue,” Piper began, gentle delight spreading across her face, “I don't know what to say.”

“How about 'yes'?” She looked over Piper's shoulder and nodded at Magnolia, who winked back and whispered into a receiver.

“Yes to what?”

“Will you dance with me?”

The bar's radio, halfway through “Uranium Fever”, stopped abruptly. The first few lines of “It's Only a Paper Moon” began to drift through the air. Travis hadn't needed any convincing, but it'd taken some doing to find a working two-way receiver so he could be on cue. Someone at the bar gave an approving whoop, and Charlie harrumphed appreciatively.

“Right here?” Piper said. She looked pleased, but a little uncertain. “In front of...Charlie?” she whispered.

“Nope. Follow me.”

MacCready had helped her convince the mercs who normally met in the back room to give her the run of it for the night. With some hefty bribes to Charlie, and help from Codsworth, Preston, Deacon, and Glory (the most unexpectedly enthusiastic of her self-appointed wingmen), she'd spruced the place up. The walls had been dusted, their paint freshened up. There was a table for two against the back wall, set with plates she'd stolen from the Institute (100% radiation free), glittering with candles. A small glass vase with fresh hubflowers stood in the center. The rest of the room's floor was clear. Plenty of space for one couple to dance – if they wanted.

She heard Piper's breath catch a little as they stepped into the room. She turned back to look at the reporter, whose black hair was gleaming in the warm candlelight. That had been part of the surprise, she realized. It was a rare day when Piper stepped outside without her trusty hat on.

“Do you like it?” she asked, suddenly nervous again. “I know it's...a lot.”

“Blue.” Piper stepped closer to her and smiled her soft, lopsided smile, and Nora's stomach flipped – not with nerves, but with butterflies. “I think it's lovely. It's just...”

She reached for where the brim of her hat would've been, to fidget with it, and blinked when she touched her hair instead. Nora bit back a laugh and then, unable to resist, leaned in and kissed her. Piper's hand snaked around the back of her neck and pulled her in deeper. When they parted, both a little breathless, Piper slid her hands down around Nora's waist.

“So this is a 'date'?” she asked.

“It's...they don't have to be like this.” In the other room, Magnolia had started to sing, her voice weaving in and out of the instruments in the background. “But I thought you might like it.”

“Mm.” Piper smiled, looked down at Nora's lips, then met her eyes again with that mischievous look she had that was guaranteed to make Nora blush. “I think I do.” She straightened Nora's tie a little. “So...first we dance?”

Nora took one of Piper's hands and placed the other at her waist. “We do. And then we have dinner.”

“What's for dinner?”

“Do you want me to spoil the surprise?”

Piper wrinkled her nose for a moment, thinking, as they began to sway gently to the music. “No. Cancel that.” She smiled. “I like your surprises. But what's after dinner?”

Nora smiled back. “Anything that you want.”

“Anything?” That look again, her dark eyes twinkling. Nora felt warm in a way that was only partly due to her tuxedo. “Well. I've got a few ideas.”

 

Later, after the dance, and the dinner, and more dancing, they were at Home Plate in bed. Piper didn't like to leave Nat at home alone most nights, but Nat, who was in on the plan and had realized that there would probably be  _kissing_ , had insisted, and in fact left a note for Piper to that effect. So they were at Home Plate, where there had been an awful lot of kissing, a lot of bite marks that Nora hoped her clothes would cover, and sex that had made her very, very glad for the lengths she took to soundproof the walls. Piper was stretched out alongside her in the tangle of sheets, catching her breath, practically glowing. Nora traced some of the freckles on her stomach with fingers that still had a hint of intoxicating slickness to them. She caught herself humming contentedly.

“Was that...was that last thing another good idea from your world?” Piper said, a little breathless. She reached up and brushed Nora's cheek, calloused fingertips leaving a trail of warmth in their wake.

“No,” Nora said, catching her hand and kissing it. “That was just something I made up on the spot.”

“Sometimes, Blue, you have...not the best ideas.” A pause, where they were probably both remembering that visit to a mother Deathclaw's nest. “But this one was...”

“Good?”

“Mm. Better than good.”

Then Piper kissed her, Piper whose lips were somehow always sweet and curved so easily into that fearless smile, who held her close and whispered that she loved her, and Nora knew that she might've lost 200 years in that Vault, but she had found something far more precious.


End file.
